Valencia · 75 min · Meat · Main course · For confident cooks
Paella Mixta
In German: Gemischte Paella · In English: Mixed paella
For 4 servings · US units
Saffron rice with chicken, prawns and mussels, cooked in one pan for everyone
Paella mixta brings land and sea together: tender chicken, prawns and mussels cook on a bed of saffron rice, green beans and peas. Plenty of cooks make a point of calling their version Valencian-style paella. It's a summer dish for celebrations, the kind where the big pan goes straight to the middle of the table.
Ingredients
- 9⅔ ozshort-grain ricepaella or risotto rice
- 1⅛ lbchickenlegs jointed or breast cut into bite-sized pieces
- 8¾ ozprawnsraw, deveined; alternatively a frozen seafood mix
- 14⅛ ozcleaned; clams also work; discard open ones before and closed ones after cookingCaution: Mussels that are open before cooking and do not close when tapped, or that have cracked shells, are dead and should be discarded.Blue mussels, black-shelled sea mussels with tender orange to pale flesh and a mild, briny-sweet flavour.Substitute: Clams such as carpet shell or Manila clams work in most Spanish and Portuguese dishes and give a similar broth, though they are smaller and more delicate; frozen mussels will do but release less of their own liquor.Read more
- 3⅓ cupschicken stockhot, mixed with saffron; sometimes vegetable stock, fish stock or water
- 2bell peppercut into strips or pieces
- 1onionfinely diced
- 3 clovesgarlicfinely chopped
- 3 tbspolive oilfor frying
- ⅛ ozdissolved in the hot stockThe dried stigmas of a crocus, thin deep-red threads that turn food golden yellow and give it a bitter-sweet, floral, faintly honeyed aroma.Substitute: There is no true substitute: turmeric or safflower will match the yellow colour but not the aroma, and turmeric adds an earthy note of its own, so the dish will look right but taste different.Read more
- 5¼ ozpeasfrozen or freshly shelled
- 2tomatoespeeled, deseeded, diced; canned also works
- 1 tsppaprikasweet, or pimentón
- 5¼ ozgreen beanstrimmed, cut into pieces, sometimes blanched
- 1lemoncut into wedges for garnish
- 1 bunchparsleychopped for sprinkling
- saltto taste
- pepperto taste
- 5¼ ozsliced (optional)Spanish or Portuguese pork sausage, heavily seasoned with paprika and garlic, which releases red fat as it cooks.Substitute: Cured chorizo cut into chunks works at a pinch, though it turns chewier and renders less fat; Mexican chorizo is a different product, loose, seasoned with vinegar and chilli, and changes the dish noticeably.Read more
- 5¼ ozporkshoulder, escalope or fillet, diced (optional)
- 5¼ ozcut into rings (optional)A slender cephalopod with tender, mild flesh, cooked either very briefly or for a long time.Substitute: Cuttlefish is the best substitute, but its flesh is thicker and needs slightly longer cooking. Prawns or shrimp will do at a pinch, but they are sweeter and less chewy.Read more
- ½ cupwhite winefor deglazing (optional)
- 14⅛ ozjointed or boned (optional)Lean, pale meat with a delicate, faintly gamey flavour, usually jointed and braised.Substitute: Bone-in chicken thighs come closest; they are juicier and milder, cook slightly faster, and lack the faintly gamey note of rabbit.Read more
- 7 ozfish filletfirm-fleshed, e.g. monkfish or hake (optional)
- 1bay leaf (optional)
Method
- Start by getting everything ready: finely dice the onion, finely chop the garlic, cut the red peppers into strips, dice the tomatoes, and trim the green beans and cut them into pieces. Stir the saffron threads into the hot chicken stock and leave them to steep.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown it all over in the olive oil in a large, shallow pan, then lift it out. If you're adding pork, rabbit or chorizo, brown them now as well. Next, give the prawns a quick fry and set them aside too. If you're using squid, fry the rings briefly with the prawns and lift them out.
- Throw out any mussels that are already open. Cook the rest, covered, in a little stock or white wine until they open. Discard any that stay shut and keep the cooking liquid.
- Soften the onion, garlic and peppers in the pan fat. Add the tomatoes and paprika and let everything cook together briefly.
- Stir in the rice and let it cook for a moment until it turns translucent.
- Pour in the hot saffron stock along with the reserved mussel liquid, season with salt, add a bay leaf if you like and bring to the boil. Stir in the green beans and peas.
- Arrange the browned meat over the rice. From here on, don't stir the paella again; let it cook over medium to low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Scatter the prawns, mussels and the squid, if using, over the rice and press them in gently. Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, until the rice has soaked up the liquid. Then cover the pan and let the paella rest for 5 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaf, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
Tips and variations
Instead of finishing it on the hob, you can also finish the paella in the oven at around 180 to 220 °C. Chorizo or another spicy sausage adds a kick. Rabbit with green beans can replace the chicken or go in alongside it, and a firm fish fillet such as monkfish or hake sits nicely with the seafood. Cut the fish into pieces and lay it on the rice together with the prawns and mussels. If you're short on time, use a frozen seafood mix and deglaze with a splash of white wine after softening the vegetables. With plenty of stock it becomes a soupy stew, served in shallow bowls. It's best brought to the table right in the pan, with garlic mayonnaise on the side if you like.
Allergens
Contains: Crustaceans, Molluscs
May contain if you use the optional ingredients: Fish, Sulphur dioxide and sulphites
Not every ingredient in this recipe has been checked, so nothing is promised as free from.
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
